Plate tectonics is driven by energy from within Earth’s interior
Plate tectonics controls the distribution of everything
Continents and oceans
Earthquakes, volcanoes, mountains, valleys, rivers and lakes (to some extent)
All resources (mineral, energy)
Outgassing of the mantle gives us an ocean and atmosphere
The renewal of the Earth’s surface by tectonic uplift causes rock to chemically
react with the atmosphere, changing the composition of both.
Energy and Mineral Resources
Human use of Earth materials
17,000 ybp
6000
5000
4500
3000
copper & gold
smelting of copper
smelting and alloying of other metals
oil used for fuel in Babylon
coal mining & drilling for natural gas in China
Resources must be concentrated/created
No nation is entirely self-sufficient w/rt mineral supplies – all must trade with each other
5 ways to concentrate minerals
hydrothermal precipitation
magmatic processes
precipitation from seawater
placer concentrations
weathering (residual) concentration
Most mineral concentrations are the result of PT processes
Energy
Global NRG use equivalent = 10 bbl per person per year (US=50bbl/person/yr)
US Usage
Oil = 40%
Gas=28%
Coal=22%
Water=5
Nuclear=5
All other=0.2%
50% is used while 50% is lost (to inefficiency and thermo)
In US – appx 30-30-30 Industry/Ag - Home/Commercial – Transportation
Fossil Fuels
Remains of plants & animals – when heated the organic compounds are turned into oil,
gas & coal
Land plants = coal
Marine plants = oil & gas
Coal is by far the most abundant fossil fuel – it formed from the burial of massive
amounts of vegetation grown in ancient swamps.
As coal forms from land plants, coal formation is only possible in the last 450 million
years. Most coal formed while Pangea was assembled - in tropical swamps.
Oil and gas must both form and then be trapped to prevent is from migrating to the
surface and leaking away. Trapping has to happen soon after formation, thus oil and gas
deposits occur only when suitable source rocks occur in conjunction with tectonic
processes that create hydrocarbon traps.
The burial and conversion of organic matter to fossil fuels requires millions of years.
Thus what we have now is all there is.
Find global production charts